Raw sugar prices finished easier on Friday on speculative profit-taking and the market may probe lower as a result of follow-through pressure going into next week, brokers said.
The New York Board of Trade's October raw sugar contract slid 0.29 cent or by nearly 1.7 percent to settle at 16.87 cents per lb, near the bottom of its 16.85 to 17.08 cents range. On Thursday, the contract finished at 17.16 cents in the best close for sugar on a spot basis since ending at 17.17 cents on May 15.
March lost 0.24 to 17.22 cents. The rest declined from 0.17 to 0.24 cent. "The locals were leaning on it since they felt it was a good time to get the cash after the runup it's had.
Sugar was up a little too far and we could see it dip some more," a long-time floor analyst said, adding the market could go down to an area between 16.72 and 16.84 cents. Fundamentally, most in the trade feel supply and demand are in rough balance for 2006/07 but there is lingering concern about recent dry weather in top grower Brazil.
Sugar prices in New York lost ground from the opening bell, taking their cue from the weaker tone set by white prices in London, traders said. "It's been very steady of late so some of the specs felt it was a good time to go home with cash in their pockets," one explained. "The volume was not really that huge though." Technicians feel support in the October contract was at 16.72 and 16.50 cents, with resistance at 17.17 cents, a level last seen on May 15, and 17.60 cents.
Volume before the close stood at 26,021 lots, against the previous 46,653 contracts. Call volume touched 11,523 lots and puts hit 9,796 lots. Open interest in the No 11 raw sugar market rose 1,506 lots to 439,510 lots as of July 6.
There were no deals done in the ethanol market. US domestic sugar prices ended lower. September fell 0.20 to 22.90 cents per lb and November eased 0.01 to 22.50 cents. One contracts aside, the rest lost 0.02 cent. Volume before the end hit 382 lots, from the prior tally of 344 lots.
Comments
Comments are closed.